Evicted

An intimate portrait of what it's like to be powerless in the world's superpower ... Evicted shows how the smallest event can rip through poor lives, sending them spinning out of control... To British eyes, the narrative reads like a dispatch from the near-future.

Aditya Chakrabortty, Guardian

For the two or three weeks I was reading the book, it formed my topic of conversation with friends, and at night, when I went to sleep, it filled my thoughts ... It makes you aware of how complicated the webs holding you up are.

Benjamin Markovits, New Statesman

A monumental and vivid study of urban poverty ... Evicted demands attention. It shines a klieg light on a dark corner of the American experience

Ed Caesar, Sunday Times

Heartbreaking... Desmond's acute observational skills, his facility with reported dialogue and his ability to wrench chaotic stories into clear prose make Evicted a vivid, if sometimes gruelling, read... with UK house prices unaffordable, a dearth of council housing and a Government committed to austerity, Evicted serves as a warning as to what happens when a society refuses to recognise the fundamental human right to shelter

Keith Kahn-Harris, Independent

A remarkable ethnography ... [Desmond] has a novelist's eye for the telling detail and a keen ear for dialogue ... This is a significant literary achievement, as well as a feat of reporting underpinned by statistical labour

Jonathan Derbyshire, Financial Times

Astonishing ... Desmond has set a new standard for reporting on poverty

Barbara Ehrenreich, Herald

An extraordinary ethnographic study... Desmond takes people who are usually seen as worthless, and shows us their full humanity ... By examining one city through the microscopic lens of housing, he shows us how the system that produces that pain and poverty was created and is maintained

Katha Pollitt, Guardian